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ScarySquirrel · 2 Mar 2006 at 19:20

i got a couple of friends who had a couple of gecko's, personally i dont like their fat tails, they have some cool chameleons though, so small and call, and they have a couple of other lizards too, i love them. my favourites are water dragons

penski · 2 Mar 2006 at 19:23

SOOOOOO CUUUUUUTE!!!! ^_^;;

</japanese schoolgirl>

(Oh, yes, you kinky buggers...)

*n

Rednut05 · 2 Mar 2006 at 19:24

anksta said:
is that what kind it is? How long do they live for?

They can live 20+ years if kept well and correctly.

G-MAN2004 · 2 Mar 2006 at 19:45

That is amazing. Looks really cool. I want one!!

zain · 2 Mar 2006 at 19:50

Aww what a nice colour, never seen one of them before

Lostkat · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:00

Che said:
My friend who is an animal "type" says that if you feed live mice to animals they have to have a means of escape, they can't just be dumped in a glass container to face certain death. How does the law work with that?

No, it's illegal. Looks like it's someone trying to get around the law. It's like saying "oh it's a wild mouse and wandered into the mouth of my snake".

It's illegal in the UK to cause "undue suffering" to any live vertebrate. Which means that if your snake/lizard/spider will take invertebrates or dead mice as food, then feeding them live vertebrates is illegal. The only way in which you can get around this is if it's causing undue suffering to the animal who is taking the live prey; i.e. you have a snake which physically won't take pre-killed prey.

An exert from the Defra document which outlines all of this:

Most captive bred carnivorous predators will accept meat or carcases for their diet. However, we are aware that it has been suggested that there may be occasions where it is necessary to feed live vertebrates to predators, for example, where a predatory animal refuses all alternatives. This is not a practice which the Executive wish to encourage. Nor do we not wish specifically to exempt the practice as an exemption which could be used as a loophole to permit suffering in circumstances where it is not necessary. On the rare occasions when it may be considered necessary to feed a live vertebrate to a predator to encourage it to eat, we believe that the Bill provides the necessary balance for the courts to decide whether an offence of unnecessary suffering or failing to ensure welfare has been committed as a result of live feeding

richyfingers · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:03

That looks awesome, anyone got links for info on the kit you need and what it entails to look after one? And perhaps some good places to buy stuff. I have never really considered looking after something like that but after seeing these pictures and looking them up on the net I want one!

Lopéz · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:04

Tute said:
I just didn't think Pet Shops would sell you anything living if it was going to be eaten.

Clearly i'm wrong, then again, I have no pets

Most pet shops and reptile/spider shops will have a section marked "Live Foods" - crickets, locusts, mealworms and so on.

www.livefoods.co.uk

Wyrdo · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:24

livefoods are good, I just bought a ton of new equipment from them this week.

I have a great exotics shop near me, I've been going in since it opened www.coasttocoast.co.uk

They've just revamped the website.

Another good place is faunology.co.uk for those that are interested.

Che · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:26

Lostkat said:
*snip*

Heh you're right, I shouldn't argue on second hand knowledge

Wyrdo · 2 Mar 2006 at 20:32

richyfingers said:
That looks awesome, anyone got links for info on the kit you need and what it entails to look after one? And perhaps some good places to buy stuff. I have never really considered looking after something like that but after seeing these pictures and looking them up on the net I want one!

http://www.britnett-carver.co.uk/c2c/leopardsshop.html

Rednut05 · 2 Mar 2006 at 21:37

My Leopard Gecko setup:

And the star himself (currently going through a shredding of skin):

Nix · 2 Mar 2006 at 22:24

How do you go about cleaning the tank Rednut05 and how often do you do it?

RandomTom · 2 Mar 2006 at 22:38

Rednut05 said:
And the star himself (currently going through a shredding of skin):

Aw he looks pretty cool, I wouldn't mind one, that other one at the back of the tank looks pretty cool too!

Nix · 2 Mar 2006 at 22:40

lol!

I was beginning to wonder how long it would take to get Rory in here

richyfingers · 2 Mar 2006 at 22:46

If you don’t mind me asking how much did it cost all in to get that setup? That’s the sort of thing I would like.

panthro · 2 Mar 2006 at 22:51

They are cool. My mate has one that is 10 years old, and going blind, watching him try and catch crickets can be amusing

Poor little guy!

He also has a tortoise that is rubbish. Its so unactive, and has grown from about 6 inches to about 15 in the space of a year. All it does is wee on you.

Rednut05 · 2 Mar 2006 at 23:47

Nix said:
How do you go about cleaning the tank Rednut05 and how often do you do it?

Not all that often. they normal pick a corner/ place and do their buisness there. they are quite clean pets really. Low maintence.

Change water when gets low or old. Keep it topped up so crickets can get to it.

Have to buy a batch of crickets every hmm month maybe twice a month. I used to get mine through the post but when it got cold it all went wrong. The Posty would leave them outside the door if no-one was in and they would freeze to death. So that got canceled.

Setup wise...he started life when wee in a 'Begginers Leopard Gecko Set' which was a big small. But came with everything, substraight, fake plant, hide and the like... Can't remember how much that was but £50 sounds prob right.

The he got upgraded to a fish tank but not much bigger and some new toys. Substraight went from bark to sand and he had a bit more room to roam free.

One he is in now...I didn't no what to spend my xmas money on so he was the centre of my attention. Must have spent nearly £200 on the new setup. So substraight - now bark, new hide and water dish, heat bulb, thermostat for that there bulb, timer for that there bulb and a new rock. Oooo and a new vivarium for it all to go in.

Just gets more and more expenisve but looks nicer now.

Nix · 3 Mar 2006 at 00:03

What's a gecko's temperment usually like? Do they ever bite or are they pretty tame?

For example, when I used to keep hamsters etc, I considered them tame but they'd bite really hard once in a while - drew blood etc.

Rednut05 · 3 Mar 2006 at 00:19

Temp, 30 degrees when the heat lamps on.

Pretty tame. The Leopard Geckos are ment to 'like being handled'. They can bite and you feel it but no teeth as such so no blood. They can move fast and are used to pouncing.